We've shipped a handful of updates that give you more control over what you share, with whom, and when. None of these change how WheresNow works at its core — they just make the existing Circles and Bubbles experience more flexible and more private. Here's a quick rundown of what's new.
Ghost Mode: pause your location, transparently
Ghost Mode lets you temporarily stop sharing your live location with a Circle, right from Settings. Pick a duration — 1 hour, 8 hours, until tomorrow, or indefinitely — and it auto-resumes once the timer runs out, so you never have to remember to turn it back on.
It's worth being precise about what Ghost Mode does and doesn't do: it is not invisible. While you're paused, your circle members can't see your live location, but they can see that you're paused — an animated ghost icon shows up next to your name on the map, member list, and circle list. It's a transparent pause, not a disappearing act, and it's enforced on our servers, not just hidden in the app's UI.
Bubble controls: restrict and unrestrict members
Bubbles are our short-lived, radius-based groups for things like a road trip or a weekend event — separate from your permanent Circles. We've added creator-only moderation controls: if you created a Bubble, you can now restrict a member, which immediately removes them and blocks them from rejoining until you lift it.
Unrestricting a member only removes the block — it doesn't automatically add them back, so you'll need to add them again separately if you want them back in. You can also view a list of everyone currently restricted from your Bubble at any time. Only the Bubble's creator has access to these controls, not other members.
Bubble Privacy: control who can add you
A new setting called Bubble Privacy gives you a say in whether Circle-mates can add you to a Bubble without asking first. It's a simple toggle, on by default: "Allow others to add me to Bubbles."
With it on, anyone in one of your Circles can add you straight into a Bubble they're creating. Turn it off, and you won't even show up as an option when someone's building their member list — they'd need to reach you another way first. Turning it off doesn't stop you from creating your own Bubble or joining one yourself by scanning a QR code; it only limits what others can do on your behalf.
Chat now supports photos and location
Circle chat, Bubble chat, and direct messages now support sending images, not just text. Snap a photo or pick one from your gallery — jpg, jpeg, png, and webp are all supported, compressed automatically before upload, up to 10MB each. Only people who are actually members of that conversation can view them, checked server-side every time, and access links are short-lived rather than permanently public.
Chat also supports location messages: a one-time pin drop, a live or timed location share, or an "on my way" ETA — each shows up as a small map preview right in the conversation that opens the full view when you tap it.
Download WheresNow and see these updates for yourself.